Alabama consumers could spend as much as $2.8 billion less next year if the Bush-era income-tax cuts expire by the end of the 2012, according to data released by the White House on Wednesday evening.

President Barack Obama speaks in the White House Briefing Room in October after returning to the White House from a campaign stop in Florida. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The data, part of an analysis by the President's Council of Economic Advisers, is part of a push to show the impact the fiscal cliff would have on families earning less than $250,000. If the tax cuts expire, a median-income Alabama family of four earning $63,400 a year could see income taxes rise by $2,200 in 2013, according to the CEA. That could cause the state's real GDP (gross domestic product) to slow by 1.8 percent.

The Obama administration is asking Congress to extend the tax cuts for low- and middle-income taxpayers while allowing cuts for those earning more than $250,000 to expire at the end of the year.

"President Obama is committed to growing our economy from the middle out by ensuring a strong, secure, and thriving middle-class," according to a statement from the White House. "Now we face a deadline that requires action on jobs, taxes and deficits by the end of the year. While the President is committed to working with Congress to reduce our deficit in a balanced and responsible way, there is no reason to hold the middle-class families in Alabama hostage while we debate tax cuts for the highest income earners."

The retail industry employs 230,200 in Alabama and 14.8 million nationwide. New jobs created by the sector account for about nine percent of all new jobs since June 2009, adding nearly 438,000 jobs in the past 32 months.

Earlier this week, the White House released a report 14-page report by the CEA and the National Economic Council, detailing how the retail industry -- and the economy as a whole -- could be impacted if Congress fails to reach an agreement. A rise in taxes could prevent consumers nationwide from spending $200 billion in 2013, according to the CEA and NEC. Right now, Americans are on-track to spend about $5 trillion on retail sales in 2012.

"And with the start of the holiday shopping season, which accounts
for close to one fifth of industry sales nationwide, retailers can't
afford the threat of tax increases on middle-class families," the White
House said.

Obama took the tax fight to Twitter on Wednesday with a new hashtag meant to create more awareness about the potential impact.

"Most families could save up to $2,200 if Congress extends middle class tax cuts. Use #My2k to share what that would mean for you," according to a tweet from the president's account on Wednesday.

But taxes might go up in 2013 regardless of whether Congress and the president reach an agreement unless the payroll tax cut is also extended, according to a CNN report this summer. The payroll tax cut -- worth two percent of a taxpayer's wages up to $110,100 -- was originally intended for 2011 and was extended an extra year for 2012.

Expiring the the payroll-tax cut would create an additional $93 billion in tax revenue in 2013, according to The New York Times.